Casting Agents Know Their Ostrich Riders

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30641, 6 January 1965, Page 10

Casting Agents Know Their Ostrich Riders

[By

CONSTANCE SHARP SAMMIS,

in the “Christian Science Monitor”]

HOLLYWOOD. The telephone rang. “This is Desilu studios. We need a man six feet tall, 160 pounds, who can ride an ostrich. And tell him to bring his own ostrich. Tomorrow at eight. Stage seven. Have you got him?” “I have just the man. He’ll be there,” said Bob Kindelon. Another ’phone rang, this I time in Lucille Kindelon’s office.

“This is ‘Gunsmoke.’ Can you get us twin babies with red, curly hair? Tomorrow morning at eight?” “I’ll work on it and call you back,” said Lucille. Robert and Lucille Kindelon run one of the world’s most fascinating businesses —what is said to be the largest independent casting agency in the country. Through their doors at 1523 Crossroads of the World, Hollywood, go Eskimos and African bushmen, statesmen and cowboys, Polynesians and Vikings—all in the glorious world of make-believe. Army or Extra

Through their giant casting board come hundreds of telephone calls a day from producers of Hollywood movies and television. Requests for an army of 2500 extras for the big scenes are handled as calmly as an order for a single male extra with a policeman’s uniform.

An intricate filing system that includes photos, qualifications, experience, wardrobe, and unusual abilities—such as riding an ostrich—helps find the right extra for each job.

THE HISTORY of the Kindelons’ business is no less novel than the business itself. Back in the Midwest, Lucille had studied law at Northwestern University, but she discovered that jobs for women lawyers were hard to get. So she switched to personnel work and took a position in New York. Later she migrated to California, and established a personnel department for engineering at Consolidated in San Diego. Still later, she worked for a theatrical producer who also owned a small casting agency —which he wanted to sell. Lucille had never run a casting agency but she wanted to try. She took her own savings, borrowed an additional amount, and bought the agency, 18 years ago. Ten years later the business was worth 15 times its purchase price. An Authority Bob Kindelon joined the company in 1954, and is now vice-president in charge of casting. A native Californian, Bob attended UCLA and the Maritime Academy. After service in the Pacific during the Second World War, he started at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Hollywood as a messenger boy. He was quickly picked by Fred Datig, wellknown casting director, to learn casting from the ground up. Before long, he was an authority in the field.

The Kindelons’ business has grown with the expansion of television. A staff of experts trained by Bob and Uucille perform the same highly specialised work the owners do. Independent Casting provides extras for Desilu, CBS, Hal Roach, Goldwyn, General Service, RKO, and many others.

A few months ago Bob and Lucille’s interest in people paid off fabulously for one plucky girl. During the shooting of the opening sequences of “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World,” the assistant to the director, Stanley Kramer, called the Kindelons frantically. The stunt girl the company had chosen to double for Edie Adams had quit. She had refused to ride with stuntmen in the fast moving car that, according to the script, was re-

quired to roll over and over on a dangerous mountain curve. The whole operation was at a standstill until a new stunt girl appeared. Could the Kindelons help?

‘I REMEMBERED a little girl,” Lucille related, “who was new in pictures, and who had never done stunts. But I thought she might be willing. I finally reached her. She was willing, but she was a brunette and Miss Adams a blonde. She wanted the job, though, and hurried down to Max Factor to buy a wig.

“We rushed her to Palm Springs, she performed the dangerous stunts, and in two weeks earned 10,000 dollars.” More For Talking This, of course, is a rare case. Base pay for extras is 25.47 dollars for an eight-hour day, 33.50 dollars if they wear their own costumes. However, overtime, transportation, and other factors often bring the rate far above minimums.

If an extra is part of the plot, his pay jumps to 70 dollars a day. If he plays a dead body, even for two minutes, his pay is also about 70 dollars. If he speaks a line he’s worth a hundred dollars.

A professional extra scarcely ever aspires to become a star. And rarely does an actor fighting for stardom travel the extra route.